The Benefits of Responsive Website Design

According to a recent article published by The New York Times, Google reports that there are currently 30 trillion Web addresses. As the Internet becomes more crowded, the question is – How many of these web addresses are accessible from a mobile device?

Web designers are scrambling to design two different versions of their websites to accommodate both the desktop and the iPhone. Is this really the best idea?

Responsive design solves the duplication of sites problem. It also has some major benefits in terms of SEO. Let’s look at some major benefits of responsive website design:

Responsive design avoids duplication of web content

Most web designers who design a separate website for mobile devices simply duplicate the content from the main site. Could this process destroy the credibility of the mobile site in the eyes of search engines?

Some of the damage can be prevented by tagging, but many search engines have not fully implemented tagging. One website designed to respond to the particular device being used to view it solves this problem. It is also much easier to keep only one website current and relevant.

Responsive design saves time and money

It is sometimes very costly and time consuming to properly optimize just one website. Do you really want to duplicate the cost and the time for two different versions of the same website? When you use responsive design for your main website, all SEO efforts and social sharing will apply to the mobile version as well.

Responsive design eliminates the need for duplicate link building

The message should be clear by now that maintaining two different versions of a website requires the duplication of every effort put into the design, maintenance, and promotion of the main site. It is certainly no different in your link building strategy.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to use those Backlinks you’ve already obtained on your mobile site as well? You can do that with responsive web design.

When you design a website that responds to the size of the viewing device, there is just no need for two versions. With one strategic URL, you strengthen your SEO.

Since Google controls about two-thirds of the search market, it’s probably a very good idea to listen to the advice and recommendations being presented. There’s no doubt that the nature of the search has changed over the past several months.

People are not only making their searches more sophisticated, but they are also using more mobile devices to find what they want to eat, buy, or learn. Designing a high-value website with responsive capabilities just might be the answer to most of our current problems.